4 ms·

Oh I know. I used to live in Baltimore, I'm quite familiar with the concept. Edit: My original point was more to demonstrate that it's easy to use an outdated

by meowmix 17y ago

Oh I know. I used to live in Baltimore, I'm quite familiar with the concept. Edit: My original point was more to demonstrate that it's easy to use an outdated term ("white flight") and continue to use it to promote the idea that white = wealth.

dschobel 17y ago
While White Americans made up roughly 75.1% of all persons in 2000, 87.93% of all households in the top 5% were headed by a person who identified as being White alone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Race http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_...
mnemonicsloth 17y ago
How is the term outdated? Last I checked, economic parity between black and white Americans was a ways off yet. I'm sure you have the best of intentions, but from here it looks like you're objecting to a pithy truth that you don't want stated. Which is a worse signal to send, for people concerned about racial inequality in the US -- Thought Police, or Vocabulary Prudes?
pw0ncakes 17y ago
White flight is about racial anxiety more than it is about wealth or tax policies. It's not necessarily appropriate in the OP's case, because what he's describing doesn't have much to do with race inherently, although there is a correspondence between white racism and supposedly disinterested economic conservatism. The most flagrant opponents of government assistance programs have no problem with programs that benefit them-- "my opponent [Al Gore in 2000] wants to run Social Security like it's some kind of federal program" and "keep your government hands off my Medicare"-- but have a huge issue with "those people" (blacks and Latinos) on "welfare". Author's note: "Welfare" is not one US social program, but a disparaging epithet used by working-class conservatives against whatever social programs-- Medicaid, food stamps-- are used predominantly by people lower than them on the socioeconomic totem pole. I grew up in a low-income, traditionally white neighborhood, so I've seen this first-hand. There was one family notorious for this: they received benefits from some social welfare programs and would rip on those who were on more such programs for being "on welfare". Also, many racist whites are against "big government" not because of an inherent objection but because the government uses more affirmative action than private-sector employers, which leads them to the (wrong) conclusion that government is 100% staffed with underperforming women and minorities. This is what "government (except the military) can't do anything right" is actually about.

by meowmix 17y ago

dschobel 17y ago

While White Americans made up roughly 75.1% of all persons in 2000, 87.93% of all households in the top 5% were headed by a person who identified as being White alone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Race http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_...

mnemonicsloth 17y ago

How is the term outdated? Last I checked, economic parity between black and white Americans was a ways off yet. I'm sure you have the best of intentions, but from here it looks like you're objecting to a pithy truth that you don't want stated. Which is a worse signal to send, for people concerned about racial inequality in the US -- Thought Police, or Vocabulary Prudes?

pw0ncakes 17y ago

White flight is about racial anxiety more than it is about wealth or tax policies. It's not necessarily appropriate in the OP's case, because what he's describing doesn't have much to do with race inherently, although there is a correspondence between white racism and supposedly disinterested economic conservatism. The most flagrant opponents of government assistance programs have no problem with programs that benefit them-- "my opponent [Al Gore in 2000] wants to run Social Security like it's some kind of federal program" and "keep your government hands off my Medicare"-- but have a huge issue with "those people" (blacks and Latinos) on "welfare". Author's note: "Welfare" is not one US social program, but a disparaging epithet used by working-class conservatives against whatever social programs-- Medicaid, food stamps-- are used predominantly by people lower than them on the socioeconomic totem pole. I grew up in a low-income, traditionally white neighborhood, so I've seen this first-hand. There was one family notorious for this: they received benefits from some social welfare programs and would rip on those who were on more such programs for being "on welfare". Also, many racist whites are against "big government" not because of an inherent objection but because the government uses more affirmative action than private-sector employers, which leads them to the (wrong) conclusion that government is 100% staffed with underperforming women and minorities. This is what "government (except the military) can't do anything right" is actually about.